A Big Day in the Madsen Kitchen

I consider myself to be a pretty good cook. I love to try new recipes and am always looking for new things to feed my family. You would think that a good cook could bake a simple batch of rolls, right? Well I sure did. But for 7 years, I have struggled with dozens and dozens and DOZENS of roll recipes, never finding the perfect one. Most were too yeasty. Some would never rise. I tried people's "No Fail" recipes, and guess what. I would fail!!! So imagine the day in my kitchen when I finally mastered a homemade batch of rolls! It was a huge deal! (Don't worry, I made a batch the following day to make sure it wasn't a fluke that I made yummy rolls!) I found the recipe on allrecipes.com (fav) and I love how the recipe uses your bread machine to do the dough. I have a cheap old Sunbeam breadmaker from Walmart and it works perfectly on the "Dough" setting. So....I challenge all of my girls who think they can't make a.ma.zing rolls. If you don't have a bread machine, simple let rise, punch down, let rise and shape, rise. Like a typical bread recipe. Good luck! I hope your results are as delicious as mine!!!

A.ma.zing Rolls

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, softened

Directions

1. Place water, milk, egg, 1/3 cup butter, sugar, salt, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough/Knead and First Rise Cycle; press Start.

2. When cycle finishes, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 12 inch circle, spread 1/4 cup softened butter over entire round. Cut each circle into 8 wedges. Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.

Merry Christmas from the Madsens!

I just mailed out all 75 of my Christmas cards this year. What a relief. Instead of including a Chrismtas letter, I noted our blog address so everyone I love can keep up with us all through the year! So here is my Christmas letter for 2009!

Kevin: has had a busy, busy year full of fun and not so fun things! Starting with the fun....he played in his recreation softball team this summer and has continued this winter with the basketball team. He gets to play with 2 of his brothers so he has a lot of fun. He has been hunting A TON this year and is grateful there are no babies in our home which allows him to play and hunt a lot more than he has in the past! His pride and joy, the Elk, is on our living room wall. That's all to say about that since I had absolutely no say in the decision. :) He went back to school this fall and got all A's! Only a few more semester to finally have his bachelors degree in Business Finance. Kev is a primary teacher now which is a welcome change from the 4 years in Young Mens. And we are VERY grateful that after the many layoffs in the bank, he still has a job. Even if it is no fun being a banker right now, we get 2 paychecks a month and for that, we are very lucky.

Erin: has continued with her many, many jobs which include mommy, wifey, scrapbook designer, housekeeper, chauffeur and referee to name a few. She works 25-30 hours a week for DCWV and is very blessed to have a job she loves, the chance to travel a handful of times throughout the year, the ability to work from home the rest of the time all while being able to help support the family. She loves teaching the 5 year olds (including Troy) in Primary and singing in the Ward Choir. She loves having her Mommy and Daddy in Utah now and is always finding excuses to need to go and stay for the weekends. When she is not working or "mothering", you will find her crafting of some sort, with her amazing circle of girlfriends, texting, watching the endless DVR playlist or on her beloved MacBook Pro shopping or"facebooking".

Troy (5): has mastered Preschool after his 3rd year. He loves to read to his little brother and sound out words. He is always playing with his friends and is so lucky to have darling little kids his age in the neighborhood. Troy likes being the boss and loves to be independent. His mommy will often climb out of bed to find apple juice and cereal poured and 2 little boys eating breakfast. He loves doing things by himself. He loves going to the movie theatre and having "movie night" on Friday nights with the neighbors. He is a happy, healthy, social kiddo!

Colt (almost 3): does not want to be called "Colty" anymore because he "is big now." Sad. The baby is growing up! Colt basically likes to do anything that Troy likes to do. "Monkey see, Monkey do" is quoted throughout the day. Everything has to be equal and the same between the two brothers. Colt loves to watch "Caillou" and "Blues Clues". He loves to read books and sing songs. He loves going to nursery and playing with Jack. We say that Jack is Colt's dog because they just seem to have a bond. He would rather be next to me in the office or kitchen than playing with his brother. He just likes to see what's going on and being a part of everything. He is such a sweet little boy.